Stocks Bounce Back, Record Biggest Gains in Two Weeks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks snapped back from Tuesday's selloff on Wednesday, seemingly undeterred by a higher dollar, lower oil and mixed earnings.

Benchmark indexes recorded their biggest gains in two weeks. The S&P 500 was up 0.91%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68%, and the Nasdaq gained 1.5%.

Markets had heavily sold off a day earlier as signs of economic recovery from the housing sector and durable goods numbers exacerbated fears the Federal Reserve would hike rates sooner than expected. Click here for more.

"Again, it comes back to volatility... so seeing some consolidation certainly is not surprising to us," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank, in a call, speaking of recent dips and dives. "It's going to be a churning and a somewhat unsatisfying experience."

High-momentum tech stocks were the best performers, getting caught up in a broad-based rally. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and IBM (IBM) each added more than 1%, while the Technology SPDR ETF (XLK) climbed 1.9%.

Broadcom (BRCM) spiked more than 21% by mid-afternoon after The Wall Street Journal reported the company was in advanced talks to be bought by Avago Technologies (AVGO).

A rally in European markets fortified gains on Wall Street. Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 in London closed more than 1% higher after Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the country and its European creditors were close to a deal that would prove "positive for the Greek economy." The parties are reportedly at the stage of drafting a technical-level agreement, according to Reuters.